Its not a stupid thing to do when: 1) You're facing a demographic crisis due to your aging population and your next closest rival has a population of which hal

Its not a stupid thing to do when: 1) You're facing a demographic crisis due to your aging population and your next closest rival has a population of which half are under 30, 2) the virus primarily kills the elderly, 3) your approach to increasing influence and power is to increase your relative position and your relative position is decreasing after decades of increasing, and 4) you can cause an economic crisis for your rivals when they shut public life, and consequently their economies, down, and thus increase your relative position in the world. I won't comment on any western motivations for going along with it.